Violin resonance chamber with tapered wall thickness



A ril 9, 1963 B. B. WESTLAKE 3,

" VIOLIN RESONANCE CHAMBER WITH TAPERED WALL THICKNESS Filed NOW. 10. 1.960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

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= INVENTOR. 54-7? TEA/V0 a. WE'JVZ 4K5,

April 9, 1963 B. B. WESTLAKE VIOLIN RESONANCE CHAMBER WITH TAPERED WALL THICKNESS Filed NOV. 10. 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 5Ee7-e4/v0 5. /{/'.$7Z4KE;

United States Patent Ofiice 3,984,586 Patented Apr. 9, 1963 3,084,586 VIOLIN RESONANCE CHAMBER WITH TAPERED WALL THICKNESS Bertrand B. Westlake, Box 12, Pittsfield,lll. Filed Nov. 10, 1960, Ser. No. 68,483 9 Claims. (Cl. 84-275) This invention relates tomusical instruments of the type having vibrating strings and a resonance box or chamber, and in particular to violins, in which the epitome is reached as regards sweetness and fidelity of tone, and which commands a substantial range of pitch and a variety of shades of tone.

Although the violin would seem to have been perfected at an early date in history, the search for improvement has persisted. For the most part these efforts have been concerned with the form, structure and location of auxiliary parts, superimposed on the conventional violin structure, but no basic changes have been madein this fundamental structure, which may be characterized by the single .word: panduriform. While the present invention does not disturb the profile of this basic form, it does effect a significant change in the structure of certain components of the conventional instrument.

In -a brief statement of the invention, I have contrived to produce a considerably enhanced ton'e quality by providing sound boards, both front and back, with a thickness which varies continuously from a maximum at the peripheral edge to a minimum in the central, or domed region. By this device I have also provided a structure readily adapted for attachment of the side walls and which permits the use of two one-piece side walls, instead of the usual three-piece walls, and which therefore further contributes to the improvement of sound quality.

It is there-fore an object of the invention to improve the performance of violins and the like, particularly as to tone quality. More particularly, it is an object to achieve this result without introducing auxiliary components. In still greater particular, it is an object to improve tone quality from a resonance chamber by providing a wall of varying thickness. A further object is to reduce the number of joints in the wall of a resonance chamber, and yet another object is to improve the manner of attachment of the side wall of a violin or the like.

These and other objects which will be apparent to those skilled in the pertinent art, are attained by the present invention, a preferred form of which is described in the following specification, as illustrated in the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a violin, with the outer portion of the finger board broken away,

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the violin shown in FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 of 'FIGURE 1, longitudinally of the center of the instrument,

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4--4 of FIGURE 2, showing, in broken lines, one side of the instrument in removed position,

FIGURES 5, 6 and 7 are transverse sectional views taken, respectively, on the lines '55, '66, and 7--7 of FIGURE 2, and

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary view showing, in enlarged scale, a detail at one end of the upper wall section in FIGURE 7.

Referring to the drawings by characters of references, there is shown, in FIGURE 1, a violin which, insofar as the showing in this figure is concerned, is conventional, having a finger board 10, bridge 12, tail piece 14, button 16, strings 18, and bouts 20'. These parts are all carried on the sound box comprising an outwardly bulging, upper sound board 22, and an outwardly-bu1ging, lower sound box 24, connected by a ribbon-like, vertical side wall in two sections 26, 128, the side wall being curved to fit the profile of the sound boards but straight, vertically. The upper sound board 22 has the usual pair of sound holes 30, 32; and an internal sound rod 34, extending between the upper and lower sound boards, and a sound plate 36 secured to the inner face of upper sound board 22 are also conventional, as are the neck block 35 and the tail block 37.

The improvement of this invention is apparent in FIG- URES 3 to 8. Considering any one of FIGURES 5 to 7, viewed along with FIGURE 3, which is taken at right angles to these, it will be seen that upper sound board 22 has a zone of minimum thickness at 38 in its central portion, generally comparable to the thickness of a conventional sound board, and has a marginal region of maximum thickness 40 at its peripheral edge, the thickness of the wall section varying gradually between the two extremes. In like manner, the bottom sound board has a zone 42, at its crown, of minimum thickness, and a marginal zone 44 of maximum thickness. As one consequence, the thickened peripheral portions enable the cutting of a groove providing a shoulder 46 (FIGURE 8) against which the side pieces 26, 28 abut when assembled. This not only does away with the need for extraneous fastening members within the instrument, similar to the chines in a boat, but provides a materially enhanced strength in the fastening which makes possible the use of side pieces of unitary construction.

While no theoretical explanation is offered for the improved results noted, it would seem that since the line of join between the sound boards and the sides is a nodal line, the most propitious character of vibration would not be obtained by a wall section which is everywhere of the same thickness as at the nodal line. In other words, full vibration should not be permitted too close to the nodal line. With the tapering wall thickness this is brought into play gradually "along the sound board. From another standpoint it is not implausible that a greater fidelity of frequency response will follow from the tapering wall structure, with the thicker sections being called into play, at times, in preference to the thinner sections. It is also believed to be self-evident that the elimination of joints in the side-wall halves cannot but result in improved vibration characteristics in the contribution of these members to the over-all functioning of the resonance chamber.

While a certain preferred embodiment has been shown and described, various modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art, in the light of this disclosure, and the invention should not, therefore, be deemed as limited except as shall appear from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A violin having a resonance chamber with top and bottom outwardly bulging sound boards joined by a ribbon-like peripheral side wall, said sound boards each having a central zone of minimum wall thickness and a peripheral zone of maximum wall thickness with a gradually varying vvall thickness between the two said zones, said sound boards having corner grooves at their peripheral edges in their facing sides, defining a shoulder, and said side wall comprising an integral side piece abutting said shoulder throughout the extent of said peripheral edges on each of the symmetrical sides of the violin.

2. A musical instrument with a panduriform resonance chamber having top and bottom, outwardly bulging sound boards joined by a peripheral side wall, said sound boards each having a central zone of minimum wall thickness and a peripheral zone of maximum wall thickness with a gradually varying wall thickness between the two said zones, said sound boards having corner grooves at their 3 peripheral edges in their facing sides defining a shoulder, and said side wall abutting said shoulder.

3. A musical instrument with a resonance chamber having top and bottom, outwardly bulging sound boards joined by a peripheral side wall, said sound boards each having a wall thickness tapering from a minimum value at its central region to a maximum value at its peripheral region, and having peripheral corner grooves in their facing sides, defining a shoulder, said side wall abutting said shoulder.

4. A musical instrument with a resonance chamber having top and bottom, outwardly bulging sound board-s joined by a peripheral side wall, said sound boards each having a wall thickness tapering from a minimum value at its central region to a maximum value at its peripheral region.

5. A musical instrument with a resonance chamber having top and bottom, outwardly bulging sound boards joined by a peripheral side wall, at least one of said sound boards having a wall thickness tapering from a minimum 20 value at its central region to a maximum value at its peripheral region.

6. A musical instrument with spaced, top and bottom sound boards, at least one of said sound boards having a wall thickness tapering from a minimum value at its central region to a maximum value at its peripheral region.

7. A violin having a sound board of increasing wall thickness extending outwardly from its central region to its periphery.

8. A musical instrument including walls defining a resonance chamber, at least one of said walls having a thick ness of gradually increasing value outwardly of its central region.

9. A violin having at least one sound board which is of increasing thickness outwardly of its central region, and a side wall of two pieces, each of which extends over the periphery of one of the symmetrical sides of the violin.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 36,0 81 Howe Mar. 19, 1895 625,058 Powers May 16, .1899

1,384,492 Sivard July 12, 1921 FOREIGN PATENTS 379,119 France Aug. 31, 1907 

1. A VIOLIN HAVING A RESONANCE CHAMBER WITH TOP AND BOTTOM OUTWARDLY BULGING SOUND BOARDS JOINED BY A RIBBON-LIKE PERIPHERAL SIDE WALL, SAID SOUND BOARDS EACH HAVING A CENTRAL ZONE OF MINIMUM WALL THICKNESS AND A PERIPHERAL ZONE OF MAXIMUM WALL THICKNESS WITH A GRADUALLY VARYING WALL THICKNESS BETWEEN THE TWO SAID ZONES, SAID SOUND BOARDS HAVING CORNER GROOVES AT THEIR PERIPHERAL EDGES IN THEIR FACING SIDES, DEFINING A SHOULDER, AND SAID SIDE WALL COMPRISING AN INTEGRAL SIDE PIECE ABUTTING SAID SHOULDER THROUGHOUT THE EXTENT OF SAID PERIPHERAL EDGES ON EACH OF THE SYMMETRICAL SIDES OF THE VIOLIN. 